From Rock Bottom to March Madness: How Tina Langley Turned Washington Women's Basketball Around
The Washington Huskies women's basketball team is heading to the NCAA tournament for the second time in program history, and it didn't happen overnight. Sixth-seeded Washington (21-10) takes on No. 11 seed South Dakota State (27-6) in Friday's first-round matchup at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. But here's the thing: this breakthrough is the result of years of grinding, building, and refusing to quit when nobody was watching.
The Long Road from Collapse to Contender
When Tina Langley arrived at Washington in 2021, she inherited a program in freefall. The Huskies had just endured four straight losing seasons and had plummeted to the bottom of the Pac-12. Her first year? A brutal 7-16 record with a 2-12 conference mark that included an 11-game losing streak. That's the kind of rock bottom that breaks lesser programs.
But Langley preaches patience. "We didn't get here in the blink of an eye," she told her team before this tournament run. "To do something that's hard, it takes time and sometimes it takes longer than you'd like. But if you keep at it, improve a little each day, then gradually things start to happen."
She brought real coaching credentials to Seattle too. Before Washington, Langley spent six years at Rice where she went 126-61, including a dominant 72-16 mark over her final three seasons there.
The Recruiting Class That Changed Everything
The turning point came in summer 2022. Langley landed a nationally ranked 10th recruiting class featuring Hannah Stines, Elle Ladine, Teagan Brown, and Shayla Gillmer. She also brought back Dalayah Daniels, a Garfield High standout who transferred from California. These five stuck with the program when nobody else was paying attention.
"They knew we didn't have that many wins the year prior, but still chose Washington and chose coach," said assistant Lauren Wilson. "That was a huge part into what we've built."
The Sellers Factor and Breaking Through
Then came Sayvia Sellers in 2023, a relatively unheralded four-star prospect from Anchorage, Alaska who nobody was talking about. This season, the 5-foot-7 playmaker exploded, averaging a team-high 18.5 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.5 steals. She earned unanimous All-Big Ten first team honors and made the Naismith Trophy Late-Season Team.
The Huskies spent three years on the bubble before finally snapping an eight-year NCAA tournament drought last year, though they suffered a brutal 63-30 loss to Columbia in a First Four game. This year? No play-in game. No extra pressure. Just straight to the dance as a six seed.
Friday in Fort Worth, we find out if Langley's patient, methodical rebuild can go deep.
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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.